On Thursday, the Saskatchewan Roughriders confirmed that running back Kory Sheets has signed with the NFL’s Oakland Raiders.

Photographed by:Frank Gunn, THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

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REGINA -- Kory Sheets is going from the Riders to the Raiders.

The NFL’s Oakland Raiders announced Wednesday that they had signed the free-agent running back, who spent the past two seasons with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The 28-year-old product of Hartford, Conn., had two NFL workouts — one with the Indianapolis Colts and one with the Raiders — before becoming a free agent on Tuesday.

Sheets couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, but he posted on Twitter: “Would like to thank everyone for their love and support on me and my new adventure thanks #Ridernation and thank @sskroughriders.”

(Listen to a special edition Riders Rumbling podcast with Rob Vanstone and Ian Hamilton by clicking this link)

The 5-foot-11, 208-pound Sheets rushed 229 times for 1,277 yards and 11 touchdowns and caught 49 passes for 517 yards and two majors in 18 games during the 2012 regular season.

In 2013, he rushed 287 times for 1,598 yards (second only to the 1,813 yards gained by Jon Cornish of the Calgary Stampeders) and tied for the league lead with 12 rushing TDs despite missing 3 1/2 games in the regular season. Sheets also caught 37 passes for 264 yards.

The product of Purdue University capped his season by being named the most valuable player of the 2013 Grey Cup after rushing 20 times for 197 yards in the Roughriders’ 45-23 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 24.

Sheets had NFL stints with the San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins and Carolina Panthers before signing with the Roughriders in February 2012.“Of course you’re happy for the kid,” said Jim Hopson, the Roughriders’ president and CEO, after the news of Sheets’ signing broke. “He really wants one more chance down there and he’s earned it with his play.

“It’s tough. You win the Grey Cup and we’ve got this (roster) turnover, but that’s the nature of the game. We’re going to have to reload. We’ve got a couple of good guys re-signed, we picked up a good Canadian defensive end (David Lee) today and we’ve just got to move forward.”

Earlier this off-season, the Roughriders also lost their top receiver to the NFL. Slotback Weston Dressler, who spent six seasons in Saskatchewan, was released before the free-agent deadline so that he could sign with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Saskatchewan has the core of its offence under contract, having extended the deals of receivers Rob Bagg, Chris Getzlaf and Taj Smith along with offensive linemen Brendon LaBatte and Dominic Picard earlier this off-season.

But the Roughriders currently don’t have any import running backs under contract. Sheets signed with Oakland, Chris Garrett was released Monday and Jock Sanders is an unsigned free agent.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers announced Wednesday that they won’t be re-signing free-agent tailbacks Will Ford and Chad Simpson, while tailback Noel Devine — who’s primarily a returner — has yet to re-sign with the Montreal Alouettes.

“(Losing Sheets is) not good to be see, but with our Canadian O-line, I think we can bring in a running back here who’s going to do pretty well,” Hopson said. “It won’t be Kory Sheets, but who was Kory Sheets before they found him?

“We’ll carry on.”

(Listen to a special edition Riders Rumbling podcast with Rob Vanstone and Ian Hamilton by clicking this link)

* Lee, a 23-year-old product of Toronto, signed as a free agent with the Roughriders after spending his first two seasons with the Toronto Argonauts.Last season, the 6-foot-4, 247-pounder had 14 tackles and two sacks in 15 regular-season games.

The Roughriders’ stock of Canadian talent has taken a hit this off-season with the losses of defensive linemen Zack Evans and Keith Shologan to the Ottawa Redblacks in the expansion draft and the free-agent signings of DBs Craig Butler (by Hamilton) and Graig Newman (Winnipeg) on Tuesday.